Death Progress Bar Chapter 1 - Inheritance

Chapter 1: Inheritance

When s.h.i.+ Jin opened his eyes, he found himself lying on a soft, wide, wooden bed, wearing cotton pajamas and holding a cuc.u.mber pillow in his arms.

Where is this? It doesn’t look like a hospital and certainly not like h.e.l.l either. He blinked in confusion, raising a hand to rub his forehead.

Wasn’t he hit by a truck that ran a red light while he was pursuing a thief? With speed of the truck, there was almost no possibility of survival, so what was going on?

A crisp mechanical voice suddenly sounded inside his head, making s.h.i.+ Jin sit up in alarm. He looked around vigilantly: “Who said that?”

“Meaning ‘death by laughter’?”

<…Meaning ‘Little Death’. My Mandarin is quite standard, thank you.>

s.h.i.+ Jin stopped looking around and finally decided that the voice was really speaking directly in his brain. He tried to knock on his head.

s.h.i.+ Jin: “…”

At this point, s.h.i.+ Jin determined that he really was reborn and definitely not in his own body. He used to be a handsome, long-legged man with eight-pack abs, but this body was “round as pearls and smooth as jade”—white, fat and round, with the ma.s.s of flesh instead of arms and legs. When he breathed, his pajamas almost burst, when he sat down, pants tightly clung to his legs.

…In his whole life, he was never so “magnificent”!

He might as well have died.

Xiao Si clearly perceived what he was thinking and asked without any pity:

s.h.i.+ Jin lay back on the bed and closed his eyes with a serene expression. “…Weight can be lost, but if you lose your life, it’s the end. You wouldn’t be able to eat delicious food or enjoy playing mahjong.”

s.h.i.+ Jin exhaled, thinking about the feeling of smooth mahjong tiles under his fingers. Then he opened his eyes, got out of bed and finished dressing. “Tell me then, what is happening?”

His words were followed by silence. Just as s.h.i.+ Jin started to suspect that all this was a hallucination that appeared before death, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his brain, and a lot of confused memories and pictures poured in.

After half an hour, s.h.i.+ Jin lay back on the bed once again and calmly closed his eyes.

Xiao Si: <…You can’t do this! You are a public servant, you should be full of righteousness and fervor!>

s.h.i.+ Jin began to snore.

s.h.i.+ Jin endured.

s.h.i.+ Jin couldn’t tolerate it any longer. He once again got out of bed and dressed, asking with an unfriendly expression: “So the novel I read before my death is the origin of your existence? You transported me into a world inside a book?”

Xiao Si stopped crying and replied obediently.

“Am I really inside a book right now?”

Xiao Si was silent.

“Then can I get out of here?”

This time s.h.i.+ Jin fell silent. After some time, he continued asking: “Why me?”

This time, Xiao s.h.i.+ hesitated for two seconds, then enunciated clearly:

“…” Actually, what you said makes perfect sense.

s.h.i.+ Jin, having nothing to say in reply, walked into the bathroom connected to his bedroom and stood in front of the mirror.

His appearance was both familiar and strange. Familiar, because the face closely resembled his own, strange because of the body shape—he looked exactly as he did when he was younger, there was even an identical little mole on his nose; it just felt weird because his body was several times larger.

Fortunately, my appearance hasn’t changed. It feels less disturbing this way. s.h.i.+ Jin sighed deeply, then washed his face and brushed his teeth.

According to the memory provided by Xiao Si, he was also called s.h.i.+ Jin now and was about to turn eighteen. ‘He’ was the protagonist of a novel that should make the readers feel good by taking rightful revenge, called “Death Progress Bar”. Unfortunately, its plot was mostly depressing and just when the protagonist was about to begin his revenge, it was dropped.

‘s.h.i.+ Jin’ had a harem-novel-protagonist-like father and five older half-brothers. When his father was still alive, ‘s.h.i.+ Jin’ was cherished and spoiled, but after his death, he became like a bug that anybody can stomp on. His brothers tore down their affectionate masks and tortured him to death.

And the time of s.h.i.+ Jin’s rebirth coincided with the death of ‘his’ father, that is, with the beginning of the book.

After finis.h.i.+ng his morning routine, s.h.i.+ Jin did not go out, but sat back on the bed and continued his internal talk with Xiao Si.

“What do you need me to do?”

There is no such thing as a free lunch in this world. Xiao Si took a lot of trouble to let him be reborn, it definitely had something it needed his help with.

Xiao Si displayed two things resembling progress bars inside his mind, one active and one grayed out.

s.h.i.+ Jin, who had a slight OCD, hadn’t shown immediate interest in the connection between this progress bar and his own life, but instead asked with an extremely disgusted expression: “999? Can’t you round it up to 1000, like the one below?”

Xiao Si voice, which had been somewhat serious, suddenly become heated:

s.h.i.+ Jin’s mind was shaken by the force of this pa.s.sionate cry. “Stop fooling around and focus on what matters!”

<…Before the progress bar below yours reaches 1000 points, I need you to find its owner and help him to save his life by emptying his progress bar while keeping your own life.> Xiao Xi’s tone became serious again. It begged earnestly in a pitiful voice:

With all this said, what was s.h.i.+ Jin supposed to do? Of course, he could only endure his obsessive-compulsive disorder and nod seriously.

He got a brand-new life. Even though he may still lose it at any time, there was also a crybaby self-proclaimed ‘golden finger’ in his mind and a matter of finding the other person with a progress bar, but it was a life anyway. He could still touch the mahjong tiles many more times.

It was his gain anyway.

Xiao Si cheered:

s.h.i.+ Jin, who was mistaken for a girl countless times because of this nickname: “…Shut up.”

After finis.h.i.+ng exchanging information and sorting out the memory in his brain, s.h.i.+ Jin finally stepped out of the door.

‘s.h.i.+ Jin’s’ stallion father, called s.h.i.+ Xingrui, was a business genius who built a huge business empire from scratch. After ‘s.h.i.+ Jin’ was born, he moved overseas with him and focused on expanding his company.

His funeral ended yesterday, and today his lawyer was going to announce his last will. The only person who was going to be present during the reading of the will was s.h.i.+ Jin, his five brothers weren’t invited. This is what s.h.i.+ Xingrui wished for because he hadn’t intended to leave even a cent for his other sons.

While they were all his children, s.h.i.+ Xingrui treated his sons in quite a different way. He was partial towards s.h.i.+ Jin, his youngest son, and s.h.i.+ Jin’s existence had never been revealed to the public. The other five sons all lived with their mothers, gathering together only on New Year’s Eve. Even though the outside world has heard of the five outstanding young men, their family relations.h.i.+p with s.h.i.+ Xingrui wasn’t known.

“They were all his sons. How could s.h.i.+ Xingrui be so biased?” s.h.i.+ Jin flipped through the memory of the original ‘s.h.i.+ Jin’ and the information given by Xiao Si, completely unable to understand s.h.i.+ Xingrui’s behavior.

Xiao Si flattered him shamelessly.

s.h.i.+ Jin: “…” He looked at his pig-like stomach and pig-like legs, deciding to end this topic and stop looking for abuse.

While they chatted, s.h.i.+ Xingrui’s lawyer had arrived. After a brief greeting, he began to read the long list of s.h.i.+ Xingrui’s possessions and businesses that s.h.i.+ Jin inherited.

It went in one ear and out the other—s.h.i.+ Jin used this time to discuss the progress bar in his mind with Xiao Si.

“How can I empty it?” s.h.i.+ Jin asked.

s.h.i.+ Jin fell into deep thought.

In the plot of the novel, the original ‘s.h.i.+ Jin’ was tortured by his brothers, which means the danger of death came from all five of them. As for the reason why they weren’t willing to meet with ‘s.h.i.+ Jin’… His eyes moved to the doc.u.ments in lawyer’s hands and he cursed s.h.i.+ Xingrui in his heart.

How could the children who were treated indifferently or even outright ignored by their father like their brother who was favored? Furthermore, the circ.u.mstances were much more complex, as the money interests were involved.

s.h.i.+ Xingrui’s decision to snub his elder sons and leave all his inheritance to the youngest… Did he feel that s.h.i.+ Jin wasn’t hated enough and wanted to make him die faster!?

“…With Maria Cordero Manor, this is all of the real estates. In addition, Mr. s.h.i.+ decided that you will inherit all the shares of the Ruixing Corporation. Since you haven’t graduated from the university yet, the company will be managed by the Deputy Chairman of the Board, Xu Tianhua, with your supervision. This is the entire content of the will. If there are no problems, please sign here.” At last, the lawyer finished reading the will and put several doc.u.ments in front of s.h.i.+ Jin.

s.h.i.+ Jin returned to reality. Glancing at the progress bar that had reached 998, he decisively pushed the doc.u.ment back and said firmly, “I don’t want these things.” If he takes it, the progress bar will be filled completely and he will die.

The lawyer raised his hand and rubbed his ears, suspecting that he had misheard.

“I don’t want anything that my brothers haven’t gotten.” s.h.i.+ Jin got up, his childish face full of stubbornness. His expression became tense and full of grief. “What dad did was wrong, I don’t want those things. Divide it into five parts and give them to my brothers.”

The lawyer was clearly stunned. “However, Young Master s.h.i.+, your brothers already have their own successful careers. Getting the inheritance wouldn’t make a difference for them, but you still haven’t come of age, that’s…”

How can it make no difference, it makes a big difference!

s.h.i.+ Jin’s acting skills suddendly awakened. He shouted loudly: “Enough!”

The lawyer was so surprised that he shut up and gave him a funny look.

“My brothers could struggle by themselves, I can do it as well.” s.h.i.+ Jin slumped, uttering sadly, “Dad always said that my brothers are his pride, and I want my father and brothers to be proud of me too… Please go back, I’m tired.”

Following that, he turned around and hauled his fat body back to the room on the second floor. After slamming the door shut he stopped his act and asked with a nervous feeling in the pit of the stomach: “Xiao Si, how was my performance?”

Clap, clap, clap. Xiao Si expressed its approval with applause.

“Thank you for your support, thank you for your support.” s.h.i.+ Jin thanked him with a bashful expression. Then he rubbed his hands expectantly. “I rejected the inheritance, my progress bar should have decreased a little, right?”

Xiao Si also felt some expectations. They looked at the progress bar.

s.h.i.+ Jin paled. “What’s going on? Why hasn’t it decreased?” It even rose a little, from 998 to 998.5!

Xiao Si screamed,